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If you want to say "almost" as a single word statement, you could say "おしい". You can't use it as an adjective in a larger sentence. What was "almost" would have to be inferred by the context surrounding such a one word sentence. I think I've observed that, in a slang type of conversation, usage of "おしい" is not uncommon.
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user312440Aug 20 '14 at 17:28

2 Answers
2

There is no one particular Japanese word that you can use everytime you want to use "almost" in English contexts.

"I almost fell down." = 「もう[少]{すこ}しで[転]{ころ}ぶところだった。」

That would be by far the most natural Japanese sentence. Native speakers would almost never say 「ほとんど転んだ。」 unless they were trying to sound humorous. You, as a learner, could end up arriving at that if you tried to "directly translate" the English sentence "I almost fell down."

"I pray almost every day." = 「ほとんど（or ほぼ）[毎日]{まいにち}お[祈]{いの}り（を）します。」

With this one (and the next one), you could use ほとんど/ほぼ like you would use "almost" in English.

Similar to the relationship between だけ and しか, you could also use [危]{あや}うく or [辛]{かろ}うじて with the negation/opposite of what you are trying to say. Since these words mean "barely", the negation/opposite of the premise would translate together as "almost".

例文:

危うく終電に間にあった。 → I barely caught the last train home. → implies "I almost missed the last train home".